They say that as long as you lower your head and keep doing your things inside your own safe home, you'll be fine.
Whatever happens outside, that's not your concern.
And that was what Ronata did in response to his newest finding. There's Humans or a humanoid creature resembling Humans in his neighborhood, but so what? He's a Puddle now. Did people even care about a Puddle?
With that mentality, Ronata calmed himself down.
However, he raised his vigilance. From now on, he would occasionally send a Water Stink Bug every noon to check whether they were still wandering on the plain or not.
Three days have passed just like that, but they are still there, sometimes moving away from Ronata's location, other times getting closer to him, and camping at night.
Ronata placed his Water Stink Bug behind a grass blade near their campsite, secretly observing them.
'What are they even doing in this place?' Ronata pondering.
This group of people was always sneaking around whenever they moved, as if they didn't want the plain's occupants to find them.
'It is as if they were looking for something...'
It was nighttime already, so this group, which was of 5 people, with 2 females and 3 males, had already entered their tents, leaving only 2 of them as the lookouts. After three days of observation, Ronata was also aware that they would rotate their lookouts after a set interval. Ronata's assumption on this matter was that they were using shifts, with three shifts on a single night, with two people from afternoon to midnight, one person from midnight to dawn, and last, two people from dawn to morning.
The occupants of this plain were mainly active at noon, afternoon, night, and morning, so the midnight shift was actually the safest shift with minimal to non-existent risk.
When the moon was already at its pinnacle and they began changing their guards, Ronata released his spell and let his Water Stink Bug collapse back to mere water.
'Let's continue this observation tomorrow,' Ronata thought as he relaxed his mind.
Overwork was something he had done too much in his previous life, so in this wonderful new life of his, Ronata wouldn't want to not be able to enjoy his life due to overwork like before again.
He let his consciousness drown deeper into a blank state, freeing himself from occasional mind activities, giving himself the 'sleep' his soul needed.
...
"The world is changing."
That's what Sage Celessmia from Star Tower said a year ago, followed by the appearance of vortexes connected to strange, unknown world full of towering buildings, which now called as the Gates by the either sides of the two worlds.
The two worlds started to interact with each other. The residents of Earth began finding the existence of the Gates, and started to enter Hamurva, while the residents of Hamurva also began doing the same thing.
While the scale of interaction between the two worlds is still limited and small, everyone with a keen mind would be able to predict that the existence of the Gates would eventually change the two worlds' order.
In Hamurva, some people call themselves Adventurers. They were people who lived nomadic lives, with freedom and wonder as their sole goals in their lives.
After the existence of the Gates was made known to Hamurva's residents, there were a lot of people who wanted to take this chance for their own desire. After all, a different world meant different people, different business, different potential!
That's why, while the number is still small, there are already Adventurers who thought that trying to find a Gate was a good and easy way to make money. Low struggle and risk, but high pay. If they're lucky, they could even find a Gate within a short time, which meant they would have money to continue their journey without worry of a lack of money for some time.
Grass Pit was one of such Adventurer groups.
"You think a Gate would really appear in this plain as that hag said?"
Tasya, the only mage in this group, couldn't help but start to doubt their purpose in coming this far inside the forest.
The campfire continued to burn before her, at the center of the campsite, while her teammate, Rana, was giving the fire more wood.
Rana shrugged, "You asked the wrong person, Tasya. Leader and you were the ones who met that hag, weren't you? Why ask me?"
It's dawn time at the moment, so the air is still cold despite the constant supply of heat from the campfire. Tasya covered her body with her robe and hugged her staff close to her chest as she let out a sigh.
"Rein is the one who believes that old, ugly hag's words, not me! I should've stopped him at that time!"
The mage began stomping her foot angrily.
Rana, the ranger, could only shake her head exasperatedly.
"I know my brother was stubborn, so don't bother. Just told him that if we still couldn't find a Gate here by the end of this day, we should return back to the village."
Tasya perked up at her idea.
"Oh, that sounds good! Let's just do that later! If that idiot still wanted to stay in this place even after that, we'll just leave him alone!"
Rana made a face at the mage, "You know he's my brother, right?"
Tasya pursed her lips and threw her face away in response.
"You should just abandon a stupid brother like him!"
There's no malice inside her words, Rana knew that, so she wasn't really worried when she heard it. Instead, a thin smile appeared on her face, contented in just watching Tasya talking about her big brother.
After Rana finished setting the wood of the campfire so that the fire could receive a continuous supply of air, she stepped back and sat down on a log they arranged near the campfire.
She then turned her head toward Tasya.
"By the way, I haven't really heard you two explaining what that hag told you guys before," said Rana, hinting that Tasya explain.
Tasya nodded, "Oh, right. Rein was too excited about this and didn't give me time to explain before we went to this plain."
She placed her finger on her cheek, recalling the event in which she and their group's leader, Rein, had a sudden encounter with that mysterious old woman.
"That old hag said 'Mana had gathered at the east, giving birth to a seed of the door connecting to the world beyond the vortex. Younglings, the whispers of fate are calling for you. Set your foot on the land Mana had chosen, and you'll soon meet a great encounter.'"
Rana giggled, "How can you believe her? That sounds like a scam. That old woman must've been a scammer."
Tasya pouted in protest.
"I said, it's Rein who believed that old hag's words, not me!"
"Sure, sure~"
"What are you laughing about!? You don't believe me, don't you, Rana!?"
While the two girls still continued to exchange casual banter, suddenly, there was a movement in the formation of grass, silencing them.
They immediately tensed up, nodding at each other as they stared at the grass vigilantly.
Then, from behind the grass—
A white-furred rabbit appeared.
No, not a normal rabbit.
But a Harcrum.
A monster.